How to Remove Rewardforsearch.com Hijacker

Can’t Remove Rewardforsearch.com hijacker virus? This page includes detailed Rewardforsearch.com Removal instructions!

Rewardforsearch.com is not a legitimate website. If this web page keeps popping up on your screen, or if it has replaced your preferable homepage, brace yourself. You are in for trouble. The nasty Rewardforsearch.com hijacker lurks in the shadows of your OS and causes issues. This invader is an aggressive, ad-generating parasite. It detects all installed web browsers and floods them with in-text and banner ads. The hijacker injects various advertisements on every website you visit. You would notice that even web pages that used to be ad-free are now heavy on coupons and discounts. That’s right; it’s the hijacker. And it doesn’t stop here. The sneaky invader also pushes notifications and opens pop-ups. It is very likely to load third-party websites in new tabs and to pause your videos for commercial breaks. The parasite has no boundaries. It is intrusive and very irritating. It is also very dangerous. The Rewardforsearch.com hijacker is not trustworthy. Its ads are not verified and are often misleading and malicious. Anyone willing to pay can use the hijacker as an advertising tool. As you can imagine, hundreds of crooks take advantage of the utility. Do not put up with this parasite. The more time it spends on your computer, the bigger the chance it lures you into an online trap. Do what’s best for you and your system’s well-being, remove the Rewardforsearch.com hijacker for good!

How did I get infected with?

The Rewardforsearch.com hijacker is not an ingenious virus. It cannot hack your device. To get installed, this pest relies on your help. The hijacker needs you, the user, to approve its installation. No permission, no admission! If you, however, give into naivety, if you rush and don’t pay attention to the red flags, you are very likely to provide the hijacker with what it needs. Do not make its job easy. Choose caution over carelessness. One keeps the parasites away, the other – invites them in. Don’t visit shady websites. Download software from reputable sources only, and forget about the “Next-Next-Finish” installation strategy. If you rush, you may invade a parasite on your system. Most of the free apps we download off the Web come bundled with bonus apps. The extras, as you can imagine, are usually parasites like the Rewardforsearch.com hijacker. Make sure that no unwanted extras get on board. Use the advanced/custom setup option and read the terms and conditions. If you cannot spare enough time to go through the whole document, scan it with an online EULA analyzer. Take your time to do your due diligence. Stop the installation if you notice anything suspicious.

Why is this dangerous?

The Rewardforsearch.com hijacker sneaks into your system and wreaks utter havoc. It corrupts your browsers and wrecks your user experience. The menace follows you around the Web and throws ads at you. Whether you browse your favorite website or watch a video, it’s always there to annoy you. Its aggressive interference, of course, takes a toll on your system. The hijacker causes underperformance and browser crashes. You may also experience Internet connection instabilities. These issues, though, are not the problem. These are the side effects of the hijacker’s operations. The Rewardforsearch.com parasite lurks in the background and plots against you. This parasite follows orders to turn you into a customer. To do so, it studies your browsing habits and bases its ads on the gathered data. In other words: it spies on you and uses the collected information against you. The hijacker opens your browser for surveillance and ad-targeting. Do you think that ends well? This parasite has no security mechanism. Its advertisers use the information to create appealing ads. They show you what you want to see, but when you click, bad things happen. The Rewardforsearch.com hijacker is very likely to redirect you to deceptive, phony, scam, and phishing websites. It may even load infected web pages. Do not risk it! Spare yourself many future headaches, remove the hijacker ASAP!

How to Remove Rewardforsearch.com virus

The Rewardforsearch.com infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Rewardforsearch.com infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down Rewardforsearch.com related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Rewardforsearch.com startup location

STEP 3: Delete Rewardforsearch.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Rewardforsearch.com related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Rewardforsearch.com startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Rewardforsearch.com virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

STEP 3 : Clean Rewardforsearch.com traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

• Open Google Chrome

• In the Main Menu, select Tools then Extensions
• Remove the Rewardforsearch.com by clicking on the little recycle bin
• Reset Google Chrome by Deleting the current user to make sure nothing is left behind

• Open Mozilla Firefox

• Press simultaneously Ctrl+Shift+A
• Disable the unwanted Extension
• Go to Help
• Then Troubleshoot information
• Click on Reset Firefox

• Open Internet Explorer

• On the Upper Right Corner Click on the Gear Icon
• Click on Internet options
• go to Toolbars and Extensions and disable the unknown extensions
• Select the Advanced tab and click on Reset

• Restart Internet Explorer

Step 4: Undo the damage done by Rewardforsearch.com

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Rewardforsearch.com, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

You must clean all your browser shortcuts as well. To do that you need to

• Right click on the shortcut of your favorite browser and then select properties.

• in the target field remove Rewardforsearch.com argument and then apply the changes.
• Repeat that with the shortcuts of your other browsers.
• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Rewardforsearch.com Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible registry leftovers or temporary files.